SURGERY

On Monday I attended my appointment with the neurosurgeon at the Southern General Hospital. He was a Mr Suttner who spoke with a South African accent. He described in great detail how the operation was carried out and described in even greater detail what the risks were. He then said he could do the operation probably within a couple of weeks. I nearly fell off my seat. I did not expect him to offer the procedure so quickly. It is called micro vascular decompression or MVD and involves an entry behind the ear, draining cranial fluid and then micro-surgery to stop an artery pressing on the trigeminal nerve. He told me to take my time to think about it and get in touch if I was up for it. I don't know why I was so shocked. I mean why else would I have an appointment with a neurosurgeon.

The difficulty I have in arriving at a decision is that I have been pain free since the 28th December 2010 as the medication appears to be doing its job with little or no side effects. I almost wish I was in pain as it would make the decision so much easier. So it’s down to me and the family to work it out. Logic says I should have the op as I know there is no cure for TN. I can well remember the pain I was suffering last October but somehow the memory is not as raw as it was. If only life was simple.

TN SUCCESS STORIES

The following piece is an email I sent to a fellow TN sufferer in Canada who was looking for some success stories to give encouragement to others on the Living with TN website. It really does help knowing there are others out there who understand your pain and who you can occasionally open up to. 

Hi Shiela,

I'm certainly willing to contribute to 'Success Stories', but there are probably a few things that contribute to my physical and mental well being at the moment, all of which could change in a second if the pain returned.

 I have been married for 37 years, I'm 54, you do the maths. I have two sons age 36 and 30 years, they are my closest friends. I play golf with my eldest most weeks and I speak to the youngest regularly, he lives a little further away and is well on his way to making his first million....so he says:-))

My wife is one year younger than me and has the additional burden of caring for her parents, both 80. Her father is deaf and confused; her mother is blind and immobile, although she is capable of carrying out her own basic care needs. My wife is an only child.

I served Strathclyde Police for 30 years and retired at the rank of Inspector in December 2009. I missed many family occasions because of work. For the last six years of my service I was afflicted with TN, but lost only four weeks work, probably down to my own stupidity, rather than being TN free. Both my parents are still living and not in perfect working order, but unlike my wife, I have two brothers.

If you have read my blog, you will know that over the course of 2010, things came to a head resulting in my admission to hospital for two weeks in November. During my time in hospital I just wanted someone to put me out of my misery....why can't they just make you unconscious when you are screaming with the pain, and I mean screaming.

I honestly don't know where I'm heading with this......or perhaps I do. There are a number of points I want to make, the first is that my experience is peculiar to me and no one else. After my admission to hospital, discharge and the subsequent research I have carried out, I have accepted there is no cure for TN, only various forms of pain relief and sometimes no relief whatsoever, as I found out in hospital.

The fact that I remain positive and I do remain incredibly positive, is because what if I lived my life frightened to do anything because of TN and I never had another attack......boy would I be pissed off!

This attitude is simply due to the mental strength of my wife without whom I could not have gotten through this. I know she has suffered as much, if not more than I did, but anything less than a positive attitude is not acceptable in her view of the world. The fact that she has stood by me throughout the worst of my suffering, and I'm not the easiest on a good day, lets me know everything I need to know about her. Would I have been as strong if the roles had been reversed.....mmmmmm?

So, in conclusion, I take an extraordinary amount of drugs to live a ‘normal’ life. I appear to be pretty fortunate in that I have few side effects other than snoring (I’m terrified my wife will suffocate me one night). I even manage the occasional bottle of wine, beer etc. and don’t die despite the warnings on the meds. My family have all been beyond supportive and that support, dare I say love (difficult for a dour Scot to say), is what gives me the strength to not feel sorry for myself.

I haven’t mentioned my two granddaughters, the eldest (age 3) who thinks she can ‘cure’ you by rubbing the affected area. How do you tell a three year old? My mother, who is devoutly religious, will have prayed for me till her brain hurts. My father, another best friend, will have dealt with it in his own way (deep, silent type, but the best story teller I know when he gets started).

Finally, apologies for dumping this on you, but I really do find that it helps to sound off on someone who is, essentially, a stranger.

Oh, by the way, I still consider myself a ‘success story’.

Regards

Jim

My youngest grandaughter Beth, age 6 months.

LOSSIEMOUTH AND SPAIN

The Lossiemouth golf trip came and went without incident. The two golf courses of the Moray Golf Club are truly magnificent. I don't detect a great deal of design; they were laid in landscape that was already there, no major earth moving undertakings. I can see this becoming an annual family outing. What made the courses even more interesting was the fact that they sat on the edge of Lossiemouth airbase. During the second round on the Monday, the airbase was particularly busy with Tornado training operations. The noise was incredible as the Tornados did their 'touch and go' appearing to be only feet above you head as they passed over the golf courses. One thing I did discover is that my capacity for beer and curry is not what it was. In fact, I was in my bed by 9:30pm leaving the two youngsters to do what they do (they were in bed by 10pm).
Our trip to Nerja in Spain went reasonably well despite the fact that in 30 years of travelling to Spain it was a week of the worst weather I can remember, rain, wind and cold, in fact, only one good day to speak of. We still managed to visit Malaga, Torremolinos, Ronda, El Chorro and the nearby lakes, Granada and the Alhambra (my favourite) and various other places too numerous to mention.
Our hotel, the Riu Monica, was a cut above, better than I remember it from 20 years ago. Great food, friendly efficient staff and a comfortable room, what more can one ask for.
The food was so good that I now need a regime change according to my wife. I had always thought it was my medication that made me gain weight, but she has finally convinced me that it's the amount I eat that’s the problem. So I'm on a diet as of Monday. We'll see!!
Absolutely nothing to report on the TN front, which was the original purpose of this blog.

GOING TO NERJA (BUT FIRST, LOSSIEMOUTH)

Tomorrow I'm off to Lossiemouth with my sons for a couple of rounds of golf. My eldest son absolutely raves about how good both Moray Golf Club courses are, the Old Course and the New Course. Somewhat worryingly, he gave me two dozen golf balls yesterday. I've inferred from this unsolicited gift that the courses are rather tight and difficult. We play the Old Course on Sunday and the New on Monday and drive home after the second round. I'm the designated driver. Our accommodation is in nearby Elgin where I have a room of my own. My wife managed to convince my sons that an economy family room for the three of us was not worth the saving as I am a noisy sleeper (snorer). So the plan for tomorrow is golf, curry, couple of beers and bed. Its good fun when the three of us get together which is not often enough. Maybe that’s why I enjoy it so much.
Yesterday, I booked seven days in Nerja in East Andalusia, Spain from next Friday. It’s a very posh hotel which we've been to before and we always said we would go back to. So here we are 20 years later making our grand return. I've also hired a car for the week and intend to visit Granada, Malaga, Seville, Rhonda and a couple of other places that may take our fancy when we arrive. I've paid for additional baggage so that I can take number one camera kit rather than my compact.
On the TN front there is nothing to update, things are still exactly the same as the last post. I'm still seeing the neurosurgeon on 23rd of this month.